1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a procedure and system for treating gynecological disorders. More particularly, the present invention relates to the treatment of abdomino-pelvic tumors.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Benign and malignant tumors can occur in the abdomen and pelvis. For example, uterine leiomyomata are muscle cell tumors that occur in 77% of women in the reproductive years. Although uterine leiomyomata rarely (0.1%) progress to cancer, these tumors can cause excessive menstrual bleeding, irregular bleeding, pregnancy loss, infertility, urinary frequency and retention, increased abdominal girth, and pelvic and/or abdominal pressure or pain with sexual activity, menses, or daily activities. Women with uterine leiomyomata frequently incur surgical procedures (e.g., hysterectomy, dilatation and curettage, myomectomy, endometrial ablation, and hysteroscopy), medical and hormonal therapies, office visits, and a variety of radiologic procedures (e.g., ultrasounds, CAT scans, and MRIs), in an effort to treat these tumors. Uterine leiomyomata account for approximately 200,000 hysterectomies per year in the United States alone, at a direct cost of well over $2 billion. Hysterectomies carry a morbidity rate of 1%, with 2,000 deaths per year and 240,000 complications per year in North America.
Uterine leiomyomata are most often multiple, and may be subserosal (i.e., bulging externally from the uterus), intramural (i.e., growing within the wall of the uterus), submucosal (i.e., extending partially into or completely contained within the uterine cavity), or pedunculated (i.e., growing externally with a stalk-like base). Because patients may have multiple uterine leiomyomata at different locations, current conservative surgeries may involve both an abdominal and a vaginal (hysteroscopic) approach, thereby necessitating two procedures.
Investigators have utilized a laser or bipolar cautery to perform myolysis or destruction of these tumors, although neither of these methods is performed in significant numbers today. These methods necessarily destroy normal overlying and surrounding tissue in order to treat the tumor. As a result, the integrity of the uterus is compromised, and harmful scar tissue (e.g., adhesions) may occur. Previous methods have also treated only those tumors visible on the external uterine surface. Thus, there is a need for an improved method of treating benign and malignant pelvic tumors that does not damage the overlying tissue. Such an improved method could be used on women who wish to later conceive and subsequently deliver. There is also a need for a single method capable of treating all sizes of subserosal, intramural, submucuosal, and pedunculated tumors in all locations. A single method, which would relieve most or all symptoms of abdominal or pelvic pain/pressure, increased abdominal girth, abnormal uterine bleeding, urinary frequency and retention, infertility, and miscarriage, is also needed. In addition, it would be desirable for the method and system to better preserve the uterus while being less invasive, less costly, safer, more cosmetic, and with a faster and less painful recovery than conventional methods of treating pelvic tumors.